The Postman Has Knocked More Than Twice.. for Paul Boesch

Radio Record, 21 August 1936, Page 5

The Postman Has Knocked More Than Twice.. for Paul Boesch

of times since my first wrestling broadcast some weeks ago-and I've gathered so much information about the wants and "‘don’t wants’? of New Zealand postman has not only knocked twice, but dozens

usteners, that | feel like stepping right up for that job of Director of Broadcasting. More than 600 let-ters-from farmers, from men in the goldfields, from blind people, from bedridden old ladies-and they all tell the same story: "We live the whole week for the wrestling broadcasts and wouldn't miss them for al] the tea in China." This is very interesting, especially as I find my bread and butter on the wrestling mat, but my stay in this country of yours has made me interested in broadcasting as a whole. It would be easy enough to fill up this page with a lot of questions-Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that? But I'll confine myself to one or two-Why in the name of the Statue of Liberty don’t you have one or two of the national stations on the air between nine and ten in the morning? There are four YA stations and four alternative stations in New Zealand and yet between nine and ten every one of them is as silent as a New York bank during the depression. That’s the time I'm eating my

breakfast, and its probably the time that a lot of other people are eating theirs too, reluctant as they may be to admit it.’ And if they’re not eating breakfast they're washing the plates-so why not a spot

of bright music to help the chores along? The children’s educational programmes in the afternoons are swell-lI've learned a lot of things from listening to them. But I'd like to see some physical education . talks put into this series-instilling into the young idea the fact that a sound mind in ax. equally sound body is pretty important. These talks could be extended to include football, cricket, boxing and so on. After . Il every good ‘schoolmaster realises ' that sport is as much a part of the school curricu- © lum as the three R’s. I've noticed that a lot of the _American transcriptions broadcast from the New Zealand stations are by. third-rate artists, people who wouldn’t.. get on the big continental networks in a month of Sundays. If the National Broadcasting Service is going to spend

money buying recordings from the United States, it might as well buy the best. There’s Eddie Cantor’s programme for instance-it’s a wow! And there’s Hollywood Hotel, a weekly programme with Dick Powell as the master of

ceremonies, big stars’ acting a scene from a new film, Irene Dunne singing a song, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in.a bit of cross patter. This programme is put over the network from the west coast to the east, and it probably has a listening audience of anything up to 25,000,000. Then there’s Show Boat, a weekly variety programme originating in. New York, and Jack Bennie and Cornelia Otis Skinner-all top-liners and all making recordings of their broadcasts. I'm pretty certain these programmes would go down in a big way in this country. If the population of a country forbids the. importation of ‘these radio stars-and New Zealand broadcasting couldn’t entertain the idea of Eddie Cantor's fee-then the next best thing is a transcription. When advertising comes on the air in New Zealand-you aze going to have radio advertising, aren't you?--advertisers will probably welcome these snappy American transcriptions. It would be a good idea in my opinion to arrange for a four-hour programme consist-

ing solely of up-to-date transcriptions to show advertisers just what they can get for their money., Sporting broadcasts have reached a high ‘plane in

America. The commentators in the big moneyGraham McNamee and so on-build word pictures of the events, just as the commentators in the newsreels do, only their job is easier because the actual film is in. front of your eyes, These radio men work you up to a pitch of excitement -if it’s the Kentucky Derby they carry you along on the winning horse’s back, and you feel almost as happy about it as the jockey (unless your money’ on another horse!). ‘Wrestling isn’t broadcast: over the national networks; it’s put over the intermediate chains. I’ve broadcast several times from the ringside’ in Portland, Oregon. In N.Z. there’s been a lot of talk about the broadcasts hurting the gate at wrestling bouts. Maybe that’s right (Continued on page 58.)

Nola Luxford, well-known New Zealander ) "in Hollywood, has written next week’s special signed article,

Introducing . . . PAUL BOUSCH, stur of the visiting American wrestling team. Mr. Boesci’s popularity in the ring has

aimost becn eclipsed by his popularity as a@ broadcast commentator fron. the ringside, a job he haus undertaken nvore. thaw once since his arrival in New Zealand at the beginning of the sea‘gon. Our readers will probably recall

the amount of favourable correspondence published in the "Radio Record’. following Ir, Boesch’s first broadcast some weeks ago.

Wrestler Paul Boesch (Continued from Page 5.) in one or two cases, but it cuts both ways. It may keep a few pounds away from the Town Hall if the bout’s in Auckland, but the broadcast is building potential "houses" in Palmerston North and Wellington and New Plymouth and Christchurch and Dunedin, where fans are listening in. Just one more thing: People here are not nearly so radio-conscious as they are in America. I met several people in Wellington last week who said they "would have listened into Dr. Malcolm Sargent’s concert if they had known it was going to be broadcast." In America we follow closely the announcements in the radio papers and the daily sheets and "shop" for our radio entertainment. People stay at home to listen to particular broadcasts, In this country no one ever seems to know quite what is on the air. ,